use? Where were they obtained? How were they serviced? Did people come from overseas to work on the equipment, or were they Iranians? Had Molavi ever seen any of the maintenance records, and could he get access to them? Did the Iranians question their suppliers? Were they suspicious? Did they compare one company with another?
The young Iranian apologized. He didn’t have many answers, and didn’t think he could get much more information now, at least at Tohid. He was under suspicion. They had already begun limiting the flow of information to him, or at least he thought they had.
“The test results you sent us from the neutron generator,” pressed Harry. “Where did you get those?”
“From the Central Laboratory. I go there to do some of my research. It is a closed site. We are accompanied in and out.”
“How did you take the material out?”
“I sent it to myself, in the computer system, from one secret account to another. It’s not so difficult if you know how. That is the advantage I had. None of the Pasdaran security people are clever enough to track the scientists. They have to trust us. They have no choice. Until they decide that they do not trust us.”
“The neutron trigger experiments that were described in those test results, were they considered successes or failures?”
“Failures,” answered the Iranian.
“And what was the response of your colleagues to those failures?”
“To try again. You know the expression, ‘If at first you don’t succeed…’”
“‘Try, try again,’” said Harry, completing the old saw. “But they kept failing, isn’t that right? The tests were failing before the lab report you sent, and they have continued to fail since then. Is that right?”
Molavi nodded. His erect posture had eased. He was slumping a little in the chair now.
“And were they suspicious, that the experiments kept failing?”
Molavi paused, as if he understood the importance of the ground they were touching now. “Yes. They began to worry.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because that was one of the subjects they asked about when they interrogated me. The interrogator talked about trains going in the wrong direction, and equipment being unreliable. He wouldn’t say any more. They aren’t sure, you see. But I know that he was worried about it.”
Harry rose from his chair and walked to the window. He needed to think a moment. There was a dusting of early snow at the very top of the mountain range that stood so starkly before them. The impression was of a fringe of white hair, atop a creased and pitted face. How far away was Iran? Twenty miles, fifty miles? Harry walked back to his chair. Molavi was sitting attentively, waiting to begin again. He was a good boy. It was not easy for Harry to think that he might have to send him back across those mountains again.
“So, Dr. Molavi, here is my question,” said Harry, leaning in toward the young man. His bulk was a shield, and also a prod. “Suppose that someone decided that the work in your laboratory was unreliable. Would they have an option—to go to another facility, let’s say, to conduct similar experiments?”
“Oh yes. I think so. That was one of the principles of the program. ‘Robust and redundant.’ They said that in English, because there are not good words for those ideas in Farsi.”
“And where would they do this redundant research, if they decided that the first track at Tohid wasn’t working right? Do you know?”
“In my area of neutron research? At Mashad, I believe. That was the parallel site.”
“How do you know? Did you ever go there?”
“Oh yes, of course. I was sent there for two months, back before 2003, when the official program was still going. I had a second cousin there, from my mother’s family. I lived with them. But then they decided that the main research would be at Tohid, and Mashad would just be a backup. But that’s where they would go. They have equipment there. Everything. It’s called Ardebil Research Establishment.”
“And they have confidence in this facility in Mashad—that it has not been penetrated or manipulated by us?”
“Oh yes. Why not? It is very secret. There were only a few of us who went there. My best friend from high school is still there, I think.”
“Your best friend?” Harry was trying to contain his enthusiasm, but he was not entirely successful. “Your best friend from high school works at the neutron research facility in Mashad? A person who would do you a favor, if you